Scientists alert April 2024 was the hottest on record

In a statement, Copernicus said: "April 2024 was warmer globally than any previous April in the data record, with an average ERA5 surface air temperature of 15.03°C, 0.67°C above the 1991-2020 average for April and 0.14°C above the previous high set in April 2016." 

This is the eleventh month in a row that is the warmest in the ERA5 data record for the respective month of the year.

While unusual, a similar streak of monthly global temperature records happened previously in 2015/2016, data revealed.

Speaking on the rising temperature, Copernicus said: "The month was 1.58°C warmer than an estimate of the April average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period."

The global-average temperature for the past 12 months (May 2023 – April 2024) is the highest on record, at 0.73°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.61°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.  

The average European temperature for April 2024 was 1.49°C above the 1991-2020 average for April, making the month the second warmest April on record for the continent. 

Outside Europe, temperatures were most above average over northern and northeastern North America, Greenland, eastern Asia, northwest Middle East, parts of South America, and most of Africa. 

Data showed El Niño in the eastern equatorial Pacific continued to weaken towards neutral conditions, but marine air temperatures in general remained at an unusually high level.  

"The global sea surface temperature (SST) averaged for April 2024 over 60°S–60°N was 21.04°C, the highest value on record for the month, marginally below the 21.07°C recorded for March 2024," the statement said. 

According to Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S): "El Niño peaked at the beginning of the year and the sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical pacific are now going back towards neutral conditions. However, whilst temperature variations associated with natural cycles like El Niño come and go, the extra energy trapped into the ocean and the atmosphere by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will keep pushing the global temperature towards new records."